Saturday, February 28, 2009

In a recent post I said that Blue was losing coolant and was running a bit hot. I decided to try some K-Seal which is supposed to to be the best radiator sealer. I got some at Champion Motor Spares along with 5 litres of antifreeze (for Brown's autobox swap) I put it into Blue's radiator, topped up and it has improved things. The temperature gauge doesn't go much past halfway so I think I've cured it. I jetwashed Blue for the first time in a few weeks and gave the radiator a clean as well to make sure it was clear of any debris in the fins.

Friday, February 27, 2009

Pay day today so I bought a litre of transmission fluid to to up the automatic on Brown for what I hope is the last time. I say "hope" because I've just come off the phone to my mate Brian and he should be able to to the auto box swap next week. This is dependent upon his 1970 Rover 2000TC being sold on eBay. (the auction ends on Sunday) It's a lovely car and is quite solid and whoever sees this car will buy it. If I had the money and space I could be tempted myself but if I did I'd be getting another Dolomite or sorting out Snowdrop. Fingers crossed that it sells...

...Brown's starter inhibitor switch problem came back to haunt me. I was at my local Morrisons (putting more petrol in) when the starter wouldn't turn (AGAIN!) I tried pulling the terminals from the inhibitor switch to no avail. I measured the voltage across the battery and it was losing voltage (back down to 10 volts) Being a bit closer to home I got one of my neighbours to give me a hand. After getting some boost I disconnected the multi plug before the inhibitor switch, bridged the terminals and got the starter spinning. Then I noticed that a couple of wires to the coil had come off. I got them reattached (with the help of the petrol station staff both of whom I knew) and I was on my way. When I got back the car wouldn't start but I was able to jump into Blue so I wasn't stuck. I tried again this morning and the car started without any problems so the battery must be fine now. I just need to use the car a bit more to keep the battery charged. I hope that when I finally get round to doing the autobox swap I can sort out the inhibitor switch problem rather than just having to bypass it. I need to fit proper connectors to the coil connections as I had to use electrical tape as a quick-fix measure. I got paid to day so I splash out a bit on these necessaries.

Wednesday, February 25, 2009

...as the Soul II Soul song goes. (was it really 20 years since that sing went to No. 1 in the charts?) I removed the wires from the starter inhibitor switch on Brown, bridged them (I had to use my small scredrivers as I had nothing else to hand) and hey presto, the car turned over and started. I wiped the terminals on the inhibitor switch with my (gloved) fingers, replaced the wires and the starter worked so I've cured the problem. I suspect that the cause is the leaking fluid and that will be solved when I do the auto box change.

Blue seems to be running a bit hot and losing coolant. I suspect that the radiator is bast it's best so if anyone has a radiator for a Triomatic Acclaim (they're different to the ones with a manual gearbox as they have a cooler for the transmission fluid) for sale I'd be very interested. (I get paid on Friday)

Tuesday, February 24, 2009

Brown (Dolomite 1850) hadn't been used for a while and needed moving to another part of the car park where it is parked so I decided to fire it up. I needed a jump start from Blue and as the petrol tank was nearly empty I decided to kill two birds with one stone and put some petrol in the tank as well as giving the car a bit of a run. I went to my local Sainsbury's and put £10 worth of unleaded in. When I got back on the car it wouldn't start. I managed to move the car on to the car park and after trying to clean up the terminals on the starter inhibitor switch it still wouldn't turn over. I measured the voltage across the battery terminals and got 10.35 volts so I assumed that there wasn't enough juice in the battery. I called out the breakdown recovery service and I ended up coming back on the back of a recovery vehicle. I now suspect the inhibitor switch and being hacked off (hence the title of this post) I'm gonna leave it until the morning to sort it out. At least I have something to write about this week.

Monday, February 16, 2009

Apart from the fact that Blue has passed the 40,000 mile mark this week. I seem to be doing a lot of miles in this car recently and it hasn't missed a beat. I'd like to get the replacement auto for Brown fitted and then I can put it to the test. My mate Brian is going to help me with this (when he gets time) so I'm in his hands.